As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Nice evening at DHS! You all got in quite a few characters this time at the Character Palooza. Max was one of Stefanie's favorites. I remember walking into Town Square at MK one morning, and her squealing there's Max. She pulled us to his line while Luke and I were trying to figure out just who Max was. When she realized we didn't know, we got the rolled eyes, and "You all he's Goofy's son." Seeing MK shut down form the Top of the World Lounge sounds like a pleasant way to end a rough day.
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Nice evening at DHS! You all got in quite a few characters this time at the Character Palooza. Max was one of Stefanie's favorites. I remember walking into Town Square at MK one morning, and her squealing there's Max. She pulled us to his line while Luke and I were trying to figure out just who Max was. When she realized we didn't know, we got the rolled eyes, and "You all he's Goofy's son." Seeing MK shut down form the Top of the World Lounge sounds like a pleasant way to end a rough day.
Thanks - we did hit the character jackpot! And to see Emily light up with Max made it that more special!
It was so peaceful on the roof top - as we were the only two out there! It was just what we needed!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
Character Palooza looks like a lot of fun! I saw Max all over the place at DLR. I wonder why he isn't more visible at WDW. I get so mad every time I see photos of the viewing area at the BLT lounge-- the wall is too high for me to see over!
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You guys do such a great job if finding the characters - my favorite two were Emily with Max (love his hair), and your expression while posing with the Evil Queen. Scott is a good sport, it seems he enjoys the characters too.
You got some great photos of the monsters! and at the Beauty and the beast show. Also glad you had some time in the lounge - have yet to make it up there.
Great pictures from the shows! How great you were able to catch another round of Characterpalooza too. I love Top of the World Lounge, one of my favorite things about BLT! I just find it so peaceful and nice up there
Character Palooza looks like a lot of fun! I saw Max all over the place at DLR. I wonder why he isn't more visible at WDW. I get so mad every time I see photos of the viewing area at the BLT lounge-- the wall is too high for me to see over!
Thanks - it was!!! Are you going to try to make it over there this week?
I can imagine you would have a hard time at the BLT lounge - at my 5'5, I had a rough time!
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Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
What a tough day, but glad you kept going.
Em with "Rapunzel" was just too sweet.
Thank you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Great photos of the various shows and with the characters! I love how you got to see the Magic Kingdom being closed down.
Thank you!
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Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
What a great night at DHS! Love all the character pictures! And some great drinks!
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by shazza
You guys do such a great job if finding the characters - my favorite two were Emily with Max (love his hair), and your expression while posing with the Evil Queen. Scott is a good sport, it seems he enjoys the characters too.
You got some great photos of the monsters! and at the Beauty and the beast show. Also glad you had some time in the lounge - have yet to make it up there.
Thanks! We certainly LOVE the characters!!! And Scott enjoys them too! He is a big kid!
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
Great pictures from the shows! How great you were able to catch another round of Characterpalooza too. I love Top of the World Lounge, one of my favorite things about BLT! I just find it so peaceful and nice up there
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Great time at DHS! Great photos from the Top of the World Lounge!
Thanks!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
We slept in again today – or at least tried to – I think we were all stressed at this point – not knowing when we were going to head home, but not wanting to go home either, all those emotions you feel when going through something like this.
Anyway – we finally got moving and took the monorail to Epcot arriving around 11ish ~
A few more photos from the monorail:
I remember we wandered through Mouse Gears for a bit browsing – and picking up a few items for friends/family – and had it sent back to the resort (at this point we knew we would still be here at least through Thursday night or Friday morning…..) – and we wanted to take advantage of the 20% off coupon that was on the bottom of one of our CS receipts – and you had to use it before 1pm (really hope they still give those out!).
After that, we started heading towards World Showcase, as we had a lunch ADR at Les Chefs de France.
Along the way, we found Alice:
Then we got checked in for our lunch – and decided that sharing would be a good option again today – well, at least Emily and I!
They had a Prix Fixe 3 courses menu, and we were able to choose:
Soupe a l’oignon gratinee (French onion soup topped with Gruyere cheese):
Gratin de macaroni (Macaroni baked with cream and Gruyere cheese):
And choice of desert, which we chose Crème Brulee:
Emily also had an order of Cassolette d’escargots de Bourgogne au beurre persille (Casserole of Burgundian escargots baked in parsley and garlic butter) ~ this girl loves her escargot!
And Scott had the Mah-Mahi sandwich, pommes frites et sauce tartare (Mahi-Mahi in Mediterranean bread, braised peppers and onions, French Fries and tartar sauce):
For Scott’s dessert he chose ~ Fraisier sur coulis de framboise, sorbet fraise (Fresh strawberry and cream cake, raspberry sauce and strawberry sorbet):
While we were enjoying our delicious lunch, we were visited by Remy!!! We had eaten here before, and had just missed him – and at this time we were hearing rumors that he would stop making appearances soon (which I believe he has) – so I had done my research and found out that he usually comes out at noon, so that’s why we chose lunch! He was so cute!!! It would be great if they would bring the character Remy & Emile to the restaurant – yes – I want lots of different character meals- this is Disney after all!
After lunch, we wanted to walk a bit through World Showcase to see if any characters were out and about – and we found Belle!
And then Aurora!
Yes, it was getting very HOT out…………..and Scott has a habit of sticking his head in the fountains to help cool himself off…………..must be nice to not have to worry about your hair!
Part of the Limited Time Magic this week was Mickey’s American Streetbeat show in the America Pavilion – and we were able to catch some of that:
Then we backtracked back to France – we were hoping to find Marie, she wasn’t out, but we did find a Photopass Photographer and had a few photos done in France!
Then we headed to Test Track:
We also stopped in Innoventions to take advantage of the Disney Visa meet and greet! We did not have to wait too long ~ and it was so worth it! We had a blast with Minnie and Goofy! Minnie saw Emily’s baggie full with various different colored sharpies – she took the baggie and dumped it on the floor to find the color she wanted to sign with!!! She was in rear form today!
One bummer here though was – our photo never showed up in the system – nor did it show up on the Photopass site – thank goodness we had them take some with our camera! (we did still get a free print later though, as they still couldn’t find these – they let us choose any other photo and printed it for us free)
We needed to head back to BLT as Scott needed to call home and figure our flight info out –
We did stop for a few more photopass photos on the way out!
Up next: Now that’s magical!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
I was dreading this portion of your TR. I'm glad that you continued on and had some good times. There are some really good pics in there too! Love the one of you and Scott in front of the fountain in France.
I was dreading this portion of your TR. I'm glad that you continued on and had some good times. There are some really good pics in there too! Love the one of you and Scott in front of the fountain in France.
Thanks - I dreaded writing about it too and almost didn't but we made the best of what we could and I wanted to share that part of the experience - writing about it has been helpful, realizing all the magic that happened during that time - and it would have been more difficult if we were home. That probably sounds bad?
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
I didn't want to get to this part either.
I am glad that you guys went on.
I can't believe how the airlines try to take advantage when you try to get home or to somewhere after the death of a loved one. It just isn't right.
The pictures are great and even though you guys are mourning, I think he would be happy that you guys carried on and tried to enjoy yourselves.
Glad you got to see Remy!
I didn't want to get to this part either.
I am glad that you guys went on.
I can't believe how the airlines try to take advantage when you try to get home or to somewhere after the death of a loved one. It just isn't right.
The pictures are great and even though you guys are mourning, I think he would be happy that you guys carried on and tried to enjoy yourselves.
Glad you got to see Remy!
Thank you - yes, we felt that we were doing what he asked us to do - carry on - and at times it was difficult - but luckily we were in a great place to be able to distract us, and we each knew when we needed a moment. I also think it's disgusting what airlines try to do when you need to get somewhere.
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
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Seeing MK shut down form the Top of the World Lounge sounds like a pleasant way to end a rough day. 
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Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
I love how you got to see the Magic Kingdom being closed down. 
Liz 
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